820 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1894. 
mostly at night tinie, wheo the plantations axo at the 
mercy of these troublesoino beasts. — Indian Planters' 
Gazette. 
THE KANGRA VALLEY AND TEA. 
Kangra, April 17. 
The tea season in the Kangra Valley is now in full 
swing, and all the planters are busy with inanufno- 
lure. Heavy winter rains, followed by genial sjiring 
weather, have brought uu a rush of leaf, and pros- 
pects at present poiut to a bumper crop for (juantity 
and quality. 'J'hero have been some changes iu the 
mnnagemcut u! the two largest concerns in the 
district, the Holla and Hassan Tea Conipauios. 
Mr. Cotnpton, a former Manager of HoUa.has retur- 
ned from England after au absence of six yoirs, to 
superintend the two ooncernp, and thus these plan- 
tations— rivals) of nearly forty yearo' standing — find 
themselves now for the first time facing (he tea 
market arm in arm, instead of each trying to got a 
bulge on the other. Our local society has beau fur- 
ther augmented by the arrival of two youug 
geutlemea from England — we do not call the bad- 
ding planters Kangra creepers iu this district, what- 
ever they may do in Ceylou — and the European com- 
munity within ten miloa of Palatnpur town numbers 
not less than twenty souls, 
Civilieation in the shape of tea manufacturing machi- 
nery has mide wonderful strides in the Kangra 
district during tho last few years and some of cur 
local factories wouhl eurprias those whoso memories 
travel back to the old days of manual and pedal 
mauulaotiire — for the foot was often used to accele- 
rate the weary procesj of rolling tho leaf. iVo«s avons 
change cela, and the visitor invited to inspect any of 
our factories now will find us quite up to data. 
The larger factories aro each fitted with a couple 
of eugiuea and boilerp, driving two or three rolling 
mucbiQcs, ami as many sifting, equalising and 
firing macbiucs, whilsS the eye and eir are be- 
wildered with tho motion and buzz of shafting 
and belting and the speculative mind is eurpisud 
to find bow acciietomcd the native stems to it oil. 
God hies."! liim, and so ho ought to be, for he is a 
gentleman at large in comparison to what ho was. 
In the o'.d days of hand manufacture three coolies 
were allowed to e*ch hundred pounds of leaf (say 251b. 
tea.) Thus with a daily gathering of 10,000lb leaf 
300 men were requ'red iu the iactory. Now our ma- 
chinery performs the same work— and iufioitely better 
too — with the assistance of ooly thirty or forty hands, 
whose duties simply consist of shifting the leif from 
one maobiue to another during the process of manu- 
facture. And as each operaliou is beguu or ended, 
the engine's 6team whistle shrieks out defiance, or 
bellows forth a pfeou of joy, which Himulayan klocf 
and khud re-echo back whilst those who have not yet 
got machinery protest against our making night and 
day unlovely with such hideous and irritating notices. 
— Fioneer, 
DURBAN (NATAL) BOTANIC SOCIETY. 
TiMBKB Trees and Eoddek Grasses. 
"We have received a copy of the Report on the 
Natal Botanic Garden for the year 1893, by the 
curator Mr. J. Medley Wood, A.t.s., Corresponding 
Member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great 
Britain, In presenting his report which is bis twelfth, 
Mr. Wood says that the past season has been one 
especially favourable to the growth of plants, ani that 
the condition of the trees and shrubs in the Gardens 
is all that could be desired. The rainfall for the year 
has been quite an abaormal one, amounting to 71 "27 
inches, which is 31-54 inches above the average of 
the last twenty years, the heaviest fall during that 
time being in 1874, when it reached to 55-06 inches. 
On the night of September 28th they wore visited 
by a heavy hurricane, which caused considerable 
damage in the neighbourhood, but the Gardens being 
somewhat sheltered by the Berca hill, they escaped 
with but little lo!>8. A tree of UucUa ualeUmbi* uaat 
the main vralk came down, and iu its fall took off 
the complete head of leaves of (heir finest epecimen 
of Cocos phmosa, and alto destrojed a light iron 
archway covered with c'imb^ra mar the out-door 
Fernery ; the palm, however, was tluwly recovering, 
tliough its beauty was goi.e for the ptetcul. A large 
Acacia tree also came down, and in ite fall de6troyed 
their only specimen oilcctoua (/randis. S.!Veral /.'«oa- 
Ir/pti, a Loxoatijlis and a ftw other trees and Bhruba 
were more or lees damaged. Details are then giveo 
regarding variou.s works connected with the upkeep 
of tbc gardcua ; atid lists arc next given of those from 
whom setds and plants and poblications were receif ed 
during the year, and of plants that have flowerej or 
fruited for the first time in the Gardens. Of a few of 
these plants special mention is made iocludiog the 
following: — Dammara anstralis, " Kauri Pine." — Tbio 
tree, which has been for manv years in the Gardens 
has this season for the the first time borne oouer. 
from which a few seeds have been obtained for plant- 
ing. It appears to thrive in the ccaet distriotii, and 
we shall now, I hope, bo able to give it a trial in the 
uplandi. The wood is valuable, and (he tree yieldb 
the gum known as " Dammar." Polygonum sactta- 
liiicnse. A root cf which had been received by the 
kindness of Mr. R. Jameson, from which they bad now 
two plants, both growicg vigorously. Its rate of 
growth has been measured in lafe spring or early 
summer to be 84 inches per shtot ptr day, and, an 
one friend taid, ' You may almost stand and watch 
It grow.' It has of late been brought 'nto more pro- 
minent notice in the Nntional Society of Agriculture of 
France, Ttiey specially commend it as a forage plant, 
und althongh it loves the vicinity of water it proves to 
bo a gocd grower iu a drougl tv teason like the pre- 
sent. This ia a most commetdable properly. Ex- 
periments are taid to lave given ri suits highly tatis- 
facte^ry, The green jitld is smd to have been 44 1b. 
to 881b per Equare yard, or 9.5 to 190 tons per acre 
Bees are very fond of the flowers, and cattle ex- 
tremely fond of the foliage. Doubtless, more will 
be heard of the plant ere loi g. It dees not yield 
feed, and therefore has to Le planted by pieces of 
root, every cLori piece (f which will make a plant 
and grow ttrongly the fir.st year. The new shoots 
e)r fprouts in spring are stouter than the thickest 
asparagus, and much resemble that vegetable ; indeed 
tho shcots have been used in a timilar way to 
aspamgaB. ' ' . * ' " In well kept gardens is 
bboul 1 he plaLted judiciously or owners may have 
to spenk bitterly of it, as Mr. Jcs ph Buckton does 
who aptly describes it as 'original s'n,' Notwitb- 
stauuing the tropical appearance of the plabt, it is 
capable of enduring onr worst and coldest winters, 
and once it gets po;session of good light eoil, it 
grows amazingly, and in<ieed in the worst soil iu 
which vegetation can live at all, it thrives in a 
degree beyond comparison with most vegetation," 
Sand Stay Plants. — In May last, says the reporter, 
I received a letter from the Secretary to the Har- 
bour Board, asking for information as to certain 
plants used in Australia for fixing drift sande, and 
enclosing a specimen of one of them, which however, 
not being in flower or fruit could not be identified 
hero. I therefore forwarded it to Baron F. v. 
Murller in a fepaiate envelope, together with the 
information I had received about it asking him for 
his kind aisiEtai;ce in the matter, ard in September 
I received from him a closed case containing plants 
and alfo a letter, from which tha following is an 
extract : — 
" This day, dear Mr. Wood, I despatched to yen 
a ca'e coutaining plants of Psamma arenaria, the 
'Marram' grass, for your sand coasts as you may 
not yet have this the best of all sanel-stajing graefies. 
Your letter indicated a sample of plant of similar 
utility from West Australia but no specimen was in 
the envelope. But I am quite sure, whatever it was 
it could not compare with the Psamma, nor the 
Ehjmus arenaria. Both were introduced by me, and 
the plants of Psamma now forwarded were reared on 
the 'sand dunes of Purt Fairy by Mr, Amory, the 
